Background Briefing

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Conclusion

The past twelve months have seen some of the most worrying violations of human rights since the 1997 handover. The toxic political climate created by Beijing’s patriotism campaign is increasingly the backdrop to threats of violence. The threats against Albert Cheng and Wong Yuk-man raise the possibility of a marriage of convenience between Hong Kong triad societies and the central government in Beijing, an alliance that could have extremely negative effects on free expression, and human rights more generally, in Hong Kong. Beijing’s direct intervention in Hong Kong’s electoral reform process through the April 6 interpretation of the Hong Kong Basic Law means, at the very least, that Beijing takes a very expansive view of its own powers to manipulate Hong Kong’s mini-constitution.

It is important not to overstate the situation. Despite the threats against the journalists and real concerns over self-censorship, Hong Kong’s press remains free. Although political reforms have been stopped and universal suffrage postponed, Hong Kong is still a multi-party system, albeit one in which the electoral structure is tilted in favor of the pro-Beijing minority. Non-government groups, though they complain about central government monitoring, operate openly and freely in Hong Kong, and the courts, with the exception of the 1999 right of abode case, have been largely left alone.101 

The events of the past year, taken together, constitute a step backward for human rights in Hong Kong. If Beijing continues to issue interpretations every time its political allies in Hong Kong are in trouble, Hong Kong’s autonomy will quickly wither. If Beijing chooses as its proxy triads whose methods include criminal intimidation and assault, then freedom of expression in Hong Kong will shrink dramatically.

As of this writing, an uneasy truce exists between Hong Kong’s democrats and civil society on the one hand, and the central government in Beijing and its supporters in Hong Kong on the other. While Beijing and the pan-democratic camp in Hong Kong have recently reached a rapprochement, it is too early to say whether the relative calm of recent weeks is indicative of a policy shift by Beijing, or is merely a pre-election tactic to avoid damaging the electoral prospects of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) and other parties seen as part of the pro-Beijing camp.

Both the people of Hong Kong and the international community will be looking for signals from Beijing after the election to demonstrate that the truce was more than a pre-election tactic. After the past year’s rights decline, the central government urgently needs to demonstrate a commitment to human rights in Hong Kong.





[101] See Human Rights Watch, Statement by Human Rights Watch to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee, threats to judicial autonomy in Hong Kong, July 1, 1999.


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